Uploaded May 2025 | Updated September 2026, 7 hours ago
🏛️ Historic Preservation Month is coming to an end, and so is our series celebrating recipients of the Model Colony Award.
🎥 Today, we're spotlighting The Avenue Boarding House, also known as the Ontario Power Company Building, located at 217 South Lemon Avenue.
Built with a striking blend of vernacular brick, stone-like concrete blockwork, dentils, and curvilinear eaves, this unique building has played a major role in Ontario’s history. It once served as home to:
🔌 San Antonio Water Company
đź’ˇ Ontario Water and Power Company
🔥 Ontario Fire & Police Departments
⚡️ General Electric and Hotpoint
🏆 In 2014, it received a Model Colony Rehabilitation Award for the innovative way it’s been preserved and reused as the Chaffey Community Museum of Art.
The museum staff have taken great care to honor the building’s legacy, adapting the space for public art while protecting its architectural integrity — from removing dropped ceilings to installing UV filters on original windows.
đź‘Ź Their creativity and respect for history are exactly what Historic Preservation Month is all about.
🏛️ Historic Preservation Month is coming to an end, and so is our series celebrating recipients of the Model Colony Award.
🎥 Today, we're spotlighting The Avenue Boarding House, also known as the Ontario Power Company Building, located at 217 South Lemon Avenue.
Built with a striking blend of vernacular brick, stone-like concrete blockwork, dentils, and curvilinear eaves, this unique building has played a major role in Ontario’s history. It once served as home to:
🔌 San Antonio Water Company
đź’ˇ Ontario Water and Power Company
🔥 Ontario Fire & Police Departments
⚡️ General Electric and Hotpoint
🏆 In 2014, it received a Model Colony Rehabilitation Award for the innovative way it’s been preserved and reused as the Chaffey Community Museum of Art.
The museum staff have taken great care to honor the building’s legacy, adapting the space for public art while protecting its architectural integrity — from removing dropped ceilings to installing UV filters on original windows.
đź‘Ź Their creativity and respect for history are exactly what Historic Preservation Month is all about.
